a baseball card celebration of the dodgers and the infield of my youth.

01 June 2014

sunday morning target dodgers

there is an obscure rule here at garvey cey russell lopes that anytime an older gentleman with suspenders appears on a baseball card, he leads the post. that rule is in full effect today, as we review another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger sga set.

mickey o'neil

o'neil was a catcher who appeared in 75 games for the 1926 brooklyn robins, hitting .209. he had previously spent seven seasons with the boston braves, and finished his career in 1927 with the senators and new york giants. he later coached for the indians, scouted for the pirates, and for many years managed in the minor leagues.

orel hershiser

the bulldog had some great seasons for the dodgers (1985, 1988), and some great postseasons for the blue and the indians, too. he was 7-0 in postseason play before losing game 1 of the 1995 world series to greg maddux and the braves, but got some redemption in game 5 as he outdueled maddux for the win. as a dodger in the postseason, hershiser was 4-0 in 8 games (7 starts) with a save and an era of 1.71. he threw 4 complete games for the dodgers in the postseason, two of which were shutouts. he was a dodger double dipper, too.

george hildebrand

hildebrand's big league career consisted of 11 games played for the superbas in 1902 in which he hit .220, as well as 22 years spent as an american league umpire, from 1913 through 1934.

ron hunt

hunt was one of the players the dodgers received from the mets in the tommy davis deal prior to the 1967 season, but was dealt to the giants for tom haller after just one season in la. he is best known for his prowess in being hit by pitches, having led the league in that category in each of his final 7 seasons. with the dodgers in 1967, he was hit by a pitch 10 times, good enough for second in the league. when hunt retired, he held the modern record for hbp (243) until don baylor passed him in the late 1980's.

fred ivy johnston

johnston appeared in four games for the 1924 robins, and was 1 for 4 at the plate. that is the sum total of his major league career.

earl mattingly

like johnston, mattingly's big league career was quite brief - he pitched in 8 games for the 1931 robins, going 0-1 despite a 2.51 era in those appearances.

lew mccarty

mccarty began his big league career in 1913 as a member of the brooklyn superbas. he stayed with the team until he was traded to the new york giants during the 1916 season, amassing a .260 average in 238 games for the franchise prior to the trade. who did brooklyn receive from the giants in exchange for mccarty you might ask? none other than fred merkle.

ray moss

moss spent the first 5+ seasons of his career with brooklyn, from 1926 to 1931. he pitched in 100 games for the team, posting a record of 21-15 with a 5.00 era. he finished his career in 1931 with 12 games pitched for the boston braves, and after retiring he founded the golden gallon chain of convenience stores.

george pinckney

pinckney (or pinkney as baseball reference knows him) was an original national league brooklyn bridegroom player. he was with the club for a few seasons prior to their joining the national league in 1890 as well. as the franchise's 'first' third baseman, he hit .309 and scored 115 runs in 126 games for the club in 1890. known as somewhat of an 'iron man', pinckney once played in 5,152 consecutive innings for brooklyn, a record eventually broken by cal ripken, jr.

stan rojek

rojek made it into one game for the dodgers in 1942 (he pinch ran in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the giants and scored the tying run to force extra innings) before serving in the military during world war ii. following his service, he returned to the dodgers for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, playing shortstop behind pee wee reese. the pirates purchased his contract following the 1947 season, and rojek went on to have his best season, hitting .290 while leading the league in games played and at bats. he finished his career with short stints in saint louis - with the cardinals for part of 1951 and the browns in 1952, and was dealt back to brooklyn following the '52 season. unfortunately, rojek never made it out of the dodgers' minor league system after his return to the franchise and retired as a player after the 1955 season.

larry see

see was the dodgers' third round pick in 1980, and he reached the majors as a september call-up in 1986. in 13 games with the dodgers that year, he hit .250 with a pair of doubles and two rbi. he had began his professional career as a third baseman, but played only first base when in the field for the dodgers, who really could have used a third baseman back then. see was back in the minors in 1987 when the dodgers traded him to the rangers for jose mota, manny's son. see made it back to the big leagues in 1988 for 13 games with texas, but hit just .167.

larry sherry

back-to-back larrys! this half of the sherry brothers spent six seasons in the dodger bullpen, posting a record of 34-25 with 39 'saves' from 1958 through 1963. he was, of course, the mvp of the 1959 world series, winning 2 games in relief while 'saving' the other two dodger victories. following the dodgers' world series win in 1963 (sherry did not pitch in the series), he was dealt to the tigers for sweet lou johnson.

dave stewart

stew made his big league debut in 1978 for the dodgers, and struck out the first batter (jim beswick) that he faced. he didn't return to the majors until 1981, however, but went 4-3 with 6 saves and helped the team reach the postseason. he did not pitch well in the division series against the astros that year (he was 0-2 with a 40.50 era) but did make two scoreless appearances against the yankees in the world series. in 1982, the team used stewart as a starter for a while, but ultimately decided to keep him in the bullpen. he was pitching well again for the dodgers in 1983 (5-2, 2.96 era) when he was traded to the rangers for rick honeycutt. the rangers made him a starter, and he responded with a 5-2 record and a 2.14 era in his 8 starts that year. unfortunately, he struggled for them in 1984 and 1985 and was traded to the phillies. he eventually wound up in oakland where everything came together. all told, stewart is a three-time world series champion.

al todd

todd didn't reach the big leagues until 1932 when he was 30 years old, however, he went on to have several productive seasons as a catcher with the phillies, pirates, dodgers, and cubs. he spent one year with the brooklyn dodgers, 1939, and hit .278 in 86 games while sharing time behind the plate with babe phelps. his 86 rbi for the pirates in 1937 still stands as that franchise's highest total from a backstop.

so that was 14 cards from the 1990 target set. the 15th card on the sheet is coming up a bit later, thanks to the double dipper status of its subject and his heretofore untold tale...

let's trade

click it - you will be rewarded! for trading, not clicking.

let's trade, part 2

i collect dodgers cards, any and all cards featuring steve garvey, ron cey, dave lopes or bill russell, all topps cards of the players who were featured in the 1978 topps set as dodgers, cards featuring dodger stadium, o-pee-chee variations, cards showing memorial patches and/or armbands, and cards showing the double play turn at second base. i am also currently working on my 1971 topps set. i have a lot of cards to trade!